“And
it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto
him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah;
and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will
tell thee of.” ~ Genesis 22:1-2
Father
in the name of Jesus I come to You asking You to reveal to me Your plan and
pathway for my life. I pray that You open my heart, ears, eyes and mind to what
You desire to reveal to me through this blog. Holy Spirit, please speak to me
and illuminate the text. Help me to see and do what Your full and perfect will
is for my life and I thank You for the grace and Your ability to answer this
prayer, not only for me, but also my family and friends in Jesus name. AMEN!
When it comes to living like Christ we are faced
with many temptations, trials, persecutions, plots of the enemy and we can tend
to wonder where God is in all of that.
We look at our life and we are not always pleased with where we are and
thank God we are not where we were, but we still wonder deep inside “why am I
just here, isn’t there more?” We are
tempted often to look at our situation and inwardly complain but outwardly give
praise to God when face to face with other people. We look at the beauty, majesty and power of
God and know God can turn situations around, but we don’t understand why we
haven’t received what we desire of The LORD.
Abraham was a man of faith, a man of devotion,
loyalty and love for God. When we read
about the life of Abraham, we see someone who was diligent in obeying God, but
one who often fell short of the glory of God as we all do. (Romans 3:23) In the text of
Genesis 22 there are many valuable insights into how it is to have a true,
genuine and realistic walk with God.
However, we see something that is strange, we might even say sadistic of
God. God asking someone to sacrifice his
only son? What’s the purpose of God
asking for that? In the times of the Old
Testament the children of Israel often committed spiritual adultery and
idolatry by leaving God to serve false gods, one of them being Molech, a god
that required a blood sacrifice by way of burning the persons child(ren). It is
obviously unlike God to compare Himself to any false god or even be associated with
the practice of demonic worship and idolatry.
Yet, we see God telling Abraham to do something that seemed completely
irrational. God tells Abraham to
sacrifice his only son who he loved dearly.
To understand the love and value of his son Isaac, we have to remember
Isaac was a promised son, a son that was going to carry on the blessing of
Abraham to all generations and continue the linage of the Messiah, Jesus the
Christ. Abraham wasn’t given this child
immediately; often with the blessings of God we find the prerequisite is a time
and season of waiting. When we think of
waiting we hope for a month or two, possibly and at the most six months, but
Abraham waited a long time. Abraham was
actually physically unable to produce a child, he was a hundred years old, but
God specializes in the miraculous. In
the process of time God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son. It’s valuable to know that this is the first
time the word “love” is mentioned in the Bible.
God makes no mistake in allowing the word “love” to be seen, showing the
depth and greatness of the sacrifice.
This passage of the Word of God is extremely
relevant to the work of God in our life.
God often requires us to do things that are unseemly, something that we
don’t desire or want, and something we don’t expect. We live in a day and age where we are taught
that the blessing is on the way, God wants to give you everything you want and
the truth is, God doesn’t want to give you everything you want, God
wants you to give Him everything you
want, a beautiful sacrifice. God demands of us our love, devotion and
time. Often when things begin to get
above God in our life, God requires, strives and wrestles with us to lay it on
the altar of sacrifice as a burnt offering.
While there are many specifics in this text, I will mainly touch on our
need for sacrifice as we walk with God.
Throughout our walk with God we are compelled by God
to lay down something that we “love something that we greatly desire, want and
would almost do ridiculous things for.
Sometimes in order to get those things we abandon God, we forsake the
God of our salvation. However, through
time we finally come face to face with the demand of God “sacrifice the thing
you love.” Sometimes the hardest thing
to do isn’t always to sacrifice it, but to wonder “why?” Why do I have to let
go of wanting to Pastor a Church? Why do I have to let go of wanting to be
married? Why do I have to let go of wanting to have a child or more children?
Why do I have to let go of getting the new car, house, apartment or
trailer. Why, Lord? Aren’t You the God
of blessing? We often tend to rebel against God and still strive to get these
things, inwardly knowing we have placed them above God, our greed, selfish
nature and ignorance steps in and takes away our faith. Jesus said in His parable of the sower that
when we hear the Word of God often something happens “the cares of this world,
and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in,
choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19) We are faced with God or the “thing” we want. What’s your choice today? Could God be speaking
to you specifically through this about the “thing” you are supposed to let go
of? Could God have supernaturally
inspired and led you to find and search out this blog and it’s bringing you
face to face with a decision to obey God and trust Him in a new way? We question God, “why Lord?” I don’t
understand is a prayer that takes place when face to face with these things,
but the Word of God tells us that “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8)
Sometimes the things we desire begin to captivate
our minds and souls, we wake up thinking about them, we do works for God
thinking He will bless us with them, we look for them, strive to find them,
save money, spend money and sometimes even give money with a false motive for
God to give us millions of dollars in return.
God will require you all the time in your walk with Him to sacrifice all the way the things you want. You have dreams, ambitions, plans, goals and
desires and the truth is God wants you to lay every single one of those things on the altar of sacrifice. God
wants a true sacrifice, not a laying on the altar, but keeping the “thing”
first place in your heart. God wants all
of you, He wants all of us. Jesus said
the greatest commandment is “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:
this is the first commandment.” (Mark
12:30) So often we love our wants with all our heart, with all our soul,
and with our entire mind and with all our strength, so a good godly
sacrifice is what it takes to get rid of that. Surrender, that’s what
it’s called. Surrendering things to God
isn’t easy though, it requires often a lot of pain, pressure and dealings by
the Holy Spirit. God wrestles with us to
get rid of them, we know they are above God, but we try to conceal it in our
hearts and thoughts, but nothing gets past God, the Bible says “thou
understandest my thought afar off.” (Psalm
139:2) That’s one of the advantages
of being God, you know everything and one of the hurts and pains of sacrifice
is not knowing why. It’s important to understand first and
foremost that God honors a godly and beautiful sacrifice, something that makes
our devotion solely to The Lord and not ourselves. Jesus was observing an offering one time and
saw a widowed woman giving all she had, which wasn’t much, but Jesus said
something very significant to us about her. While others were giving out of their great
abundance and riches, not really sacrificing Jesus said “Verily I say unto you,
That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: For all they did cast in of their abundance;
but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.” (Mark 12:43-44) This is what God see’s when we give our
dreams, hopes and ambitions to Him, He sees us giving our all. That’s what He wants, your all.
He has a plan for your life, be aware and assured of that, but His plan
is completely different from our plan.
He has another way of blessing us, but it requires training us and the
training of God isn’t always fun, it isn’t always easy, but it’s always
valuable, important and purposeful; a knowledge of that will help you in your
time of need.
Though there is much to say about this text, I will
finish with my own testimony. Even
tonight, October 18th 2012 I was face to face with giving up something I so
eagerly wanted to do for God. It sounds
strange, it’s for God, why give it up? I
don’t know, but God does and I have to lay myself
on the altar, trusting the wisdom, plan and purposes of God. I’ve had to face many times where I had to
give “it” up, the thing I wanted so bad, I had to let go, it was an idol, it
hindered Gods plan and work in and for
my life. I’ve been face to face with my
want for a wife and had to sacrifice it many
times. I’ve found that I had to sacrifice ungodly
music, rap to be exact, but that was well worth it, I can see the wisdom of God
in that because of time. In due time I will understand why these things
had to be, why God would allow such a thing to happen, why God would say “Adam,
take now your wants and desires and offer them as a burnt offering.” When God steps into your life in a new way,
He often requires a sacrifice and to go to the next level in your faith and spiritual maturity, it’s
required of you to let something go. It
seems one of the hardest things for me to accept was the fact that I knew God
could give me those things, easily. It’s
times like these where we have to yield to the plan of God not always knowing
the purpose and plan of God, but assured that there is a plan that God
has formulated in His mind. It’s times
like these where we have to remember the promises of God and cling to
them. God has a plan for your life, God
has a purpose for your life, and God has a reason for your life. You were born in a specific place, a specific
time, a specific location and to a specific family, there’s a real reason for
all of that. In order to reach them, to change the world, to change the nation,
to change the generation, we have to give up ourselves to God. In the time when
you are faced with the beautiful sacrifice remember in order to be like Christ,
we have to be willing to give up things, let go of things and selflessly
sacrifice things, it just so happens to be your greatest wants and
desires. Remember this, God loves you
and God has a plan. God bless you.
Father
in Jesus name, I pray that You help me. Lord, help me to fulfill Your will.
Lord, help me to do Your will, willingly and with joy. Lord, help me to
sacrifice the things You want me to sacrifice and fully place myself on the
altar. Lord, help me to offer myself as a complete and living sacrifice, holy
and acceptable to You which is the reasonable and logical thing to do. Lord,
show me how to let go and let me be free to serve and love You with all my
heart, mind, soul and strength. Teach me and give me the grace to love You and
other, please. Help me to serve with passion, purpose and diligence. Lord, let
me be Your witness that You change lives and free people from the strongest
wants and addictions. Lord, set me free from captivity of self and shame and I
thank You in the name of Jesus for Your ability and my inability, fill me with
Your Spirit please now by faith. Thank You Lord for Your sacrifice, may mine be
similar, but not greater in the name of Jesus and for Jesus! AMEN!
_____________________________________________________________
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as
your personal Lord and Savior?
If not, here’s what you are missing.
You are missing satisfaction in life. You are missing the blessings of
God in and through your life. You are missing the blessing of being able to
know God intimately and know Him for the pardoning of your sins. You are missing the blessing of being able to
serve God and impact your community and the world around you. You are missing the beauty of God revealing
Himself to you and helping you in your daily life. You are missing out on such
great things. God wants the best for you
and His best starts with you admitting you have sinned against Him and that you
need a Savior for your sins, that Savior is Jesus Christ. Like me, will you rebel against God’s plan
and will for your life? Will you submit to Gods will so He can save you and
redirect your life? God can get you off
any drugs, any habit or addiction, nothing can stop God and God will stop at
nothing to stop it from stopping you from reaching your full potential for
Christ. God loves you so much, why wait
and why reject His message. If you want
to be saved for-real, just pray this prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I have sinned, I am a sinner, I have sinned and will sin, but I
have sinned only against You. Lord, I am in need of Your forgiveness. I believe
You died for my sins and You rose from the dead. I believe You are God and that
You have the capability to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me from my
unrighteousness. Lord, please save me and draw me to You by Your grace. Fill me
with Your Spirit. Baptize me in Your power and help me to live a lifestyle that
is pleasing in Your sight. Give me victory over temptation, Lord, strengthen me
to be all who You want me to be please in Jesus Name! AMEN!”
"God loved the world this way:
He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will
have eternal life." ~ John 3:16 (God’s Word Translation)
"That
if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a
person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting
in salvation. For
the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be [disappointed.” For
there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord
of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the
name of the Lord will be saved.” ~ Romans 10:9-13 (NASB)
These links may help you in your walk with Jesus Christ. I urge you to take a look at some and
remember to draw closer to God through studying His Word and praying daily for
yourself and most importantly, others.
God Bless!
[List of Bible Promises!
http://www.intouch.org/resources/gods-promises?page480=2 ]
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
~ Romans 10:17 (King James Version)
http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/PrayerAndCounseling/index.aspx [Prayer
Request; Have someone online pray for you!]
"The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces
wonderful results." ~ James 5:16 (New Living Translation)
http://www.OurPrayer.org [Prayer Request; People from all over the world can
pray for YOU, simple, fast, free and beneficial.]
http://www.Bible.cc [Great site for searching through the Bible and
comparing each version, also charts, commentaries and dictionaries]
"Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to wild living. Instead, be
filled with the Spirit." ~ Ephesians 5:18 (Gods Word Translation)
http://www.biblegateway.com [Great site for Bibles of various kinds and
various languages]
"A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the
bones." ~ Proverbs 14:30 (New International Version)
http://www.Christianword.org [Great site for prayers; affirmations,
scripture references etc.]
http://www.e-sword.net [Great site to download Bible software; commentaries,
dictionaries, maps, charts, various Bibles]
"A patient person [shows] great understanding, but a quick-tempered one
promotes foolishness." ~ Proverbs 14:29 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
http://www.twft.org [Pastor Chuck Smith's Through The Bible audio sermons]
http://www.c28.com [Christian Clothing, etc.]
http://www.intouch.org/itrn?utm_source=ITM&utm_medium=Web&utm_campaign=Home_top_slider
[In Touch Ministries 24/7 Radio Broadcast Online; Free Streaming]
http://www.intouch.org/resources/gods-promises?page480=2 [List of Bible
Promises! (Easy to Print)]
"In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And his children
will have refuge." ~ Proverbs 14:26 (New American Standard Bible)
http://www.wmpress.org [FREE Christian Tracts] [Shipped to your doorstep for
free.] [Pass out, leave somewhere (school, bus stop, grocery store, mall,
shopping center, etc.), send in a Birthday, Holiday or Christmas Card; Simple
ways to plant seeds of faith in people, even without speaking.]
[ORDER FORM for WMPRESS.ORG] http://www.wmpress.org/booklet_order.php [BOOKLETS/STUDY GUIDES/ GOSPEL TRACTS
AVAILABLE TO ORDER FROM WMPRESS.ORG] http://www.wmpress.org/bksavail.shtml
http://www.intouch.org/about/in-touch-messenger/messenger-downloads
[Download 35 POWERFUL sermons from Charles Stanley in less than five minutes,
compressed ZIP FILE.] [3 Languages; Pray for the Ministry of donating, giving
and supplying these handheld devices to spread the Gospel to the remote areas
of the world and throughout the 'known' world.] [Pray!]
"For, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." ~ Romans 10:13 (American Standard Version)
http://www.thruthebible.org/site/c.irLMKXPGLsF/b.4104233/k.BFE1/MP3_Download_of_5Year_Series.htm
[Dr. J Vernon McGee's Through The Bible 5 Year Series; Free downloads]
[THREE Great Biblical Prayers Ephesians 3:14-21, Ephesians 1:16-20 &
Colossians 1:9-14, pray them for you and others!]
http://www.biblegateway.christianbook.com [Buy Christian Bibles, great
selection of Study Bibles, commentaries, audio sermons, books, clothing, music,
gifts, art; etc.]
http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/today-on-radio [Charles Stanley's daily
radio broadcast; also clicking 'Audio Archives' can allow you to search years
back and download more of his radio broadcasts]
"I pray that the God who gives hope will fill you with much joy and
peace while you trust in him. Then your hope will overflow by the power of the
Holy Spirit." ~ Romans 15:13 (New Century Version)
http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/this-week-on-tv [Charles Stanleys 'This
Week on TV' site; clicking 'Video Archives' can allow you to search back and
find older Television shows; He also has sermon notes available on each
show/segment]
"And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured
into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." ~
Romans 5:5 (English Standard Version)
http://www.twft.com/?page=C2000 [Pastor Chuck Smiths c2000 Through The Bible
series; free downloads of book by book, verse by verse Bible study/commentary]
"May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your
knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord." ~ 2 Peter 1:2 (New Living
Translation)
http://twft.com/?page=Radio.Main [Pastor Chuck Smiths Radio Broadcast; 25
minutes of study on the Word of God. c3000 edition]
[Study Bibles I suggest looking at; at CBD.com] 'Life in The Spirit Study
Bible' 'Zondervan Study Bible' Nelson KJV Study Bible' and 'ESV Study Bible.'
Christian Books; "Disciplines of The Holy Spirit" by Tan/Gregg;
"How to Listen to God" by Charles Stanley; "Living Waters"
by Pastor Chuck Smith; "Handbook for Christian Living" by Charles
Stanley;
"That I may KNOW Him" ~ Philippians 3:10
Start your day off with a Word from God; Prayer and a Song of Praise/Worship
THE ROYAL PRAYER LINE
Every Wednesday Morning
6:15 a.m. - 6:30 a.m.[EASTERN USA TIME]
Dial-in# (712) 432-1001
Access Code: 491276491#
Just Listen and Be Blessed!!!
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/royal-baptist-sunday-services [PAST SERVICES
OF ROYAL MISSIONARY BAPTIST; SUNDAY SERVICES 8 AND 11 AM; Special Events and
Bible Study as well] Enjoy!
http://royalmbc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=109
[My Churches Live Streaming; Sunday's at 8 AM & 11 AM. Thursdays for Bible
Study 7 PM; Enjoy, there IS a Word from The LORD!]
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